New trading hubs a ‘game changer’ for emerging markets

It’s not every day a company gets to truly transform a market. Yet, with our newly announced partnership, Digital Realty is poised to do just that. In partnership with trading technology specialist GMEX Technologies Limited (GMEX Tech), we have plans to establish a network of emerging market trading hubs around the globe. The hubs will link far-flung trading exchanges to investors, providing real-time access to new sources of liquidity. The impact on developing markets is potentially enormous.

[easy-tweet tweet=”By improving access to liquidity, the hubs will help overcome one of the biggest challenges facing emerging markets. ” user=”digitalEMEA” usehashtags=”no”]

By improving access to liquidity, the hubs (the first of which is planned to be established in our London Chessington data centre) will help overcome one of the biggest challenges facing emerging markets. Many have assets that investors would love to trade, but suffer from the difficulty of access to those investors brought about by the market’s often remote location.

This is where Digital Realty is able to deliver significant value. Working with GMEX Tech, we will use our global network of data centres to help create cloud-enabled Points of Presence (PoPs). These POPs will provide market participants with direct and secure access to the London trading hub. Other hubs are being planned for the United States and Asia.

Participants will have the opportunity to place their own trading servers within a Digital Realty data centre

Participants will have the opportunity to place their own trading servers within a Digital Realty data centre, further solidifying their links to their chosen hub. Ideally, the hubs will become a space where emerging markets can come together with prospective investors and traditional exchanges in one central location.

Participants in the new trading hubs may benefit in a range of ways. For established players, the hubs may create new trading opportunities and revenue streams. On the sell side, they may open up access to a huge pool of prospective new clients. Market operators may be able to extend beyond their own geographical boundaries and provide the ability for participants to access a broader range of asset classes including securities, commodities, and derivatives.

Emerging trading markets should no longer be hostages to the tyranny of distance. The goal is that the hubs will enable the emerging trading markets to operate as though they were physically located in one of the world’s financial capitals. Compared to existing cross-listing relationships, the hubs will better allow true equal partnerships to be created between participants.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Emerging trading markets should no longer be hostages to the tyranny of distance says @digitalEMEA” via=”no” usehashtags=”no”]

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Until now, many emerging market players have been hindered by the challenges associated with gaining access to core markets in financial centres. Many smaller markets simply do not have the technology or knowledge to establish the required linkages into large global exchanges. The planned hubs will diminish this barrier.

The partnership between Digital Realty and GMEX Tech also means that the hubs will provide a secure, open, and agile trading platform. Housed in purpose-built data centres and connected by fully managed and redundant network links, the hubs will be operational around the clock.

The bottom line is that the hubs have been designed from the ground up with users in mind. They are ‘participant’ rather than ‘exchange’ focused. Our goal is that they will essentially become one-stop-shops that provide users with access to multiple exchanges and sources of liquidity – a real game changer.

I am very excited by this development and am looking forward to the hubs growing and generating new opportunities over the coming months and years.

Rob Bath is the Vice President of Global Solutions at Digital Realty. Rob is responsible for overseeing all aspects associated with the development of sector focused solutions areas, from framing the strategic business objective through platform prototyping and proof of concept trials followed by driving realisation of the production environment.

Rob joined Digital Realty in early 2011 as Director of Engineering. In previous years Rob has been responsible for leading the engineering, network and energy teams within the business with a remit spanning property acquisition and business integration, design and construction, technology deployment and sales. Rob is an Electrical Engineering graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and is a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering Council, UK.